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Logistics Provider |
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Building Trust by Word of Mouth |
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Customer Recommendations Bring New Business to PSI Shipping |
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In a challenging environment on the African continent, Nigerian businessman
Stanley Egbo trades in the most valued commodity – trust. He relies on his
Magaya software to track shipments and payments for his own peace of mind and
that of his customers. |
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"
In logistics you need accuracy as much as you need speed. Magaya software
helps us achieve that. " |
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Stanley Egbo, President and CEO, PSI Shipping |
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www.psishipping.com |
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Logistics Provider |
Magaya Cargo System,
Online Shipping Orders |
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PSI Shipping is a freight forwarder and NVOCC based in Houston, TX. They ship
cars, armored vehicles, project cargo and equipment for oil and gas fields,
power plants, and more to Nigeria, Europe, the Middle East, and over 160
countries worldwide. They also offer warehousing, package crating, customs
clearance, package protection for shipments in Nigeria, and secure inland
freight courier services within Nigeria. |
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Securing cargo in transit requires accurate shipment tracking and trusted people
handling the items. Stanley Egbo, President and CEO of PSI Shipping (Prolog
Services Inc.), specializes in adding security to his Nigerian shipments to
assure his customers that what they ordered will be delivered as expected. While
this may sound like a simple process in many countries, in Nigeria the risks
increase exponentially.
Mr. Egbo is from Nigeria and knows it well. He moved from Nigeria to Houston,
Texas, which has the largest Nigerian-American community in the U.S. He worked
in the logistics industry and received a business degree from the University of
Houston before opening his own freight forwarding company with a partner, Ernest
Agu.
Mr. Egbo selected Nigeria as the niche market for PSI Shipping because of his
knowledge of the country and its large population, which means high demand for
goods. In fact, Nigeria has been classified as an ‘emerging economy’ by the
World Bank. A fifth of the oil sent to the United States comes from Nigeria,
making Nigeria the US’s largest trading partner in sub-Saharan Africa. Sitting
on the Atlantic coast of Africa, Nigeria’s most populated metropolitan area is
Lagos. Lagos is also the most populous city on the continent after Cairo, Egypt.
The Port of Lagos is one of the largest seaports in Africa, and Nigeria’s
Murtala Mohammad International airport is also one of the largest airports in
Africa.
PSI has three warehouses in Nigeria, one in Ghana, one in London, and one in
Houston. They also sell cargo insurance and package protection for all goods
they transport within Nigeria. All deliveries in the country must be escorted,
Mr. Egbo said, to prevent theft. Often, new customers come to him and tell him
stories of lost cargo and how they need to be assured that what they ship will
arrive at its destination. “With us, security comes standard. People see that we
deliver and that creates trust. Then they tell others about us. Word of mouth
has been the best advertising for our business.”
In addition to the risk of theft in Nigeria, personal safety must also be
safeguarded. Government officials and business people in Nigeria often travel by
armored vehicle. Many vendors sell armored vehicles, but if the vehicle is not
built to the specifications, it may not provide the protection expected.
“Because we have a trusted reputation, people who have done business with us ask
us to deliver armored vehicles for them,” Mr. Egbo explained. “They know we will
deliver what they ask for. In contrast, it has happened that people thought they
had a certain level of protection, but the vehicle was not made to the standards
expected. It did not have the right level of armor, and they were not
protected.”
PSI works with a Houston-based manufacturer of armored vehicles that builds the
vehicles with 1/2 “, 1/4” or 1/8” armored steel, bullet-resistant glass, an
armored fuel tank, battery and radiator, and run-flat tires. Kevlar® bomb
blankets are also included.
The assurance that results from delivering this kind of cargo safely is worth
more than anything to him and to his customers, he says. “That peace of mind
cannot be measured.”
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To help him manage his business, Mr. Egbo uses the Magaya Cargo System. When he
received an advertisement for Magaya software in the mail, he almost threw it
away, but he eventually called and talked about his business needs and concerns.
When the sales rep told him his worries were over, Mr. Egbo was skeptical. That
was 2006, and now he is so happy with Magaya software he is recommending it to
others.
Before using the Magaya Cargo System, PSI used word processing documents and
spreadsheets. Mr. Egbo reflected on getting started with the software and the
results he has now by saying, “Once I figured it out, there was no going back.”
Magaya software helps him stay on top of the cargo and plan loading and
shipping. Tracking and accounting of all shipments is easier because their agent
in Nigeria also uses Magaya. “When a shipment arrives in Nigeria, I get a
notification of when the cargo arrives and is released in Nigeria.” When the
cargo is released, the information is updated in the system instantly. They also
include photographs of the cargo to help document and identify what is shipped.
PSI also uses many of the accounting features. “We receive payments in the
currency of the country that the cargo is shipped to. For the shipments that
leave the US as COD, the Magaya system converts the currency for me, and we know
what has been paid for in real time.”
PSI recently added a new Magaya feature to their software, Online Shipping
Orders.
 As PSI
grew, they wanted to meet the needs of their enterprise clients who are
suppliers to large companies. Much of their cargo is for the oil and gas
industry, including pumps and valves as well as oversized items. With Online
Shipping Orders he gives customers access to the information related to their
account via Magaya LiveTrack, the online tracking tool. Customers request
pickups of cargo and other transactions online. “They enter the details of their
shipments, and all we have to do on our end is to receive it.”
“The Online Shipping Orders feature allows us to know ahead of time what is
coming to us or what we need to pick up. The warehouse is alerted, and we are
prepared. We know who is bringing it, if the customer is using UPS, FedEx, or
another freight company. We know the descriptions, the weight and dimensions.
The customer can also give us shipping instructions so we can start the process
before the cargo even gets to our warehouse. We will call the airlines to
reserve the space ahead of time. In contrast, if a shipment arrives last minute
without advanced information and the client wants it to go right away, often the
airline is already full.”
When PSI picks up the cargo, they print the labels and bring them with them to
place them on the boxes. At the PSI warehouse, labels are scanned using the
Magaya Bar Code scanner, and all the information about the items is already
entered in the system. “We can convert the Pickup Order into a Warehouse Receipt
with just a few clicks and we’re done. It reduces redundancy so there is no
duplicating of information. One person enters the information, and we’re good to
go.”
“The Online Shipping Orders saves us a lot of time because we know ahead of time
if the freight company that is delivering to us is a known shipper or not,” Mr.
Egbo said. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) requires all cargo
that is shipped on a passenger flight be screened and handled by a known
shipper. PSI verifies the status of shippers and will validate any shipper that
is not a known shipper.
“The information we are getting through the Online Shipping Orders is more
accurate,” Mr. Egbo said. “In logistics you need accuracy as much as you need
speed. Magaya software helps us achieve that.”
“I show my clients how to use the Online Shipping Orders by using Skype to share
my screen because I have clients all over the world,” Mr. Egbo explains. “When I
tell them about it, they have an ‘Ah-ha!’ moment and tell me that no one else is
doing this. That makes me feel like one of the big players.”
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“I wanted to improve the accuracy and speed of transactions and to manage the
accounting for our 8,000 plus customers without breaking a sweat. It’s very
important to me that the Magaya system holds the data from previous years. I can
quickly look up an invoice from a year or more back by using the filters to
fulfill a customer request. As I learned what I could do in Magaya, I wanted
more. I am looking at implementing the WMS Mobile handheld application in the
warehouse and the online payments feature, Magaya PayCargo.”
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